Team 303 & the Case of the Disappearing Dalmatian
by annieadderall
Summary: One-shot written for the Comm 101 fic battle. When the dean's dalmatian figurine goes missing, Team 303 is on the case. Troy/Abed/Annie friendship.


_Written for the Community 101 Fic Battle._

Whenever there was a mystery to be solved, Team 303 was on the case. That's why Dean Pelton had called the gang into his office, frantic over a spotted ceramic dog. Hysterical, even. He wanted it returned - safely, of course - and he wanted the case handled right. And that's why Troy Barnes was now picking the lock of a supply closet with the bobby pin from Annie Edison's hair.

Troy Barnes was the leader of the group. He was not only strong, but mechanically gifted. He could open anything using anything else. Sometimes it was jars with butter knives, but today it was supply closet locks with bobby pins.

"I don't want to rush you," Annie Edison began, which Troy knew meant that she was preparing to rush him, "but we only have two minutes and 27 seconds before the night class down the hall lets out."

Annie Edison was the smartest girl in school, or, at the very least, the most knowledgable regarding all Greendale or community college information. She knew when classes began, when they let out and which teachers let students go before the end of the assigned period time frame.

"Doesn't Professor Stone usually let out early?" Troy asked, though he knew better to question Annie.

"No, he's a stickler for using the whole period," she replied. "He always has been. You might even say his ways are...set in stone."

Annie Edison was the smartest girl in school - she wasn't the funniest.

It didn't matter when Professor Stone was going to let out, because at that moment Troy picked the lock and the duo quickly entered the supply closet. This was no ordinary closet, but rather the place the gang took refuge when they needed to discuss schemes and clues. Annie had her mini-flashlight out and ready. Troy took his seat on a turned-over bucket while Annie used her light to gather their supplies from their hidden locations.

"Shouldn't Abed be back by now?" Troy asked Annie as she handed him his headlamp.

Annie glanced down at her watch, mentally calculating how long Abed had said he needed to complete his task.

"He's cutting it close," she told Troy, "but he should be back in time."

As if on cue, Abed Nadir did the secret knock set to the tune of "Daybreak." Annie opened the door, handing him his headlamp as he entered the cramped closet.

"Weren't sure if you were going to make it back in time," Troy said, standing up to greet his friend with their signature high five.

"I like to keep things interesting," Abed replied as he flicked on his headlamp. He then glanced toward the shorter girl to his side. "Your hair is down. It looks good like that."

Annie smiled shyly, her eyes avoiding Abed's gaze and the light that was shining in her direction. He must have still been in character, at least a little.

"Who'd you do this time?" she asked him, fingers running through her now-loose brown hair. She had forgotten to pack an extra bobby pin or headband, though she had been on enough cases to know she always needed one. Maybe she wasn't always the smartest girl in school, but right now her cheeks were probably the pinkest.

"I don't want to talk about it," Abed replied. "Quendra has weird tastes. It was more difficult to get information from her than I expected it to be."

Abed Nadir was the master of disguise. He could channel anyone, from Don Draper to Batman, Bruce Wayne to Inspector Spacetime. Bruce Wayne and Batman were different, Annie had learned, so she didn't make that mistake again. Abed's job was to pump suspects and witnesses for information using his computer-esque knowledge of their classmates' likes and dislikes.

Annie nodded, grabbing her notebook and pen from its spot next to a can of antibacterial spray. "I understand. What'd you get?"

The gang stayed in the closet, dissecting the information Abed was able to retrieve and cross-referencing it with clues left on the scene and statements recorded from Dean Pelton.

The facts were these: Quendra had been the last one in his office before it went missing. She had been begging the dean to sign a paper allowing her to use two lower-level English classes in place of a higher-level English class. He had almost agreed, but realized that ENG 101 plus ENG 101 did not equal ENG 202. It just meant she had failed ENG 101 and had to re-take it.

"If Quendra was the last person to see that figurine alive, she had to be the one to take it," Annie stated, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked over her notebook in the dim closet. "She had motive and everything. The only other possible answer is...I don't know, that Dean Pelton just misplaced it and this is just a wacky misunderstanding."

Troy Barnes scratched at the top of his head, his mechanical brain whirring as he tried to fit the pieces together. Sinks and A/C units - those were easy to fix. This required more effort.

"I don't know if even Dean Pelton would be stupid enough for that," he told Annie, and the gang nodded. Troy felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans so he stood up from his overturned bucket to retrieve it. "Oh, wait a minute."

"Is it a clue? Do we have a lead?" Abed asked as he tried to look at Troy's cell phone screen.

"It's Pelton," Troy said, and Annie watched as a smile pulled onto their leader's lips. "He said he found it. He had just misplaced it - moved it to a different display area after lunch and just forgot about it. So..."

"He is stupid enough for that," the three said together, sharing a laugh as they realized their case was now closed. Team 303 had solved another case...sort of.

"Shall we go back home?" Abed asked. "Special drink? Special drink?"


End file.
